The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

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welkin
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Joined: 29 Sep 2017, 10:07

The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by welkin »

The creator of The Shakespeare Tarot and The Beatles Tarot has created a new 78 card Tarot deck:

The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

The deck is based on the RWS deck, with some acknowledgment of the Marseilles. The deck covers the golden era of motion picture making by the Studio System, from the introduction of "talkies" - 1929 - to the introduction of television and the Anti-Trust Supreme Court case the studios lost in 1949.

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There were 8 main studios during Hollywood's golden age, and each suit is comprised of one major and one minor studio. Not only are specific important films referenced in the pips, and specific Hollywood icons in the courts, but the relationships and politics behind each movie are incorporated into the meaning of each card as well.

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The cards were created by modifying the original movie posters dating from the time period.

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The Major Arcana, in classic Tarot tradition, utilizes wider concepts and points to the larger mechanics behind Hollywood's Golden Era.

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The political and historical references glimpsed in the pips also gain greater relevance in the Majors.

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A 200 page colour book has been made to accompany the deck, full of wonderful Hollywood anecdotes and a studied but clear explanation of each card's meaning.

The deck can be viewed here: https://chrisleech.wixsite.com/goldenageofhollywood

The deck can be purchased here:

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tarotbear
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by tarotbear »

TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY DOLLARS????

Sorry - I'll stick with "The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot Deck" copyright 2013 Lorelei Douglas.
There are three ways of looking at things; theirs, yours, and my Tarot cards.

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Nemia
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by Nemia »

I think there's a misunderstanding here. 270$ is the sum raised by Indiegogo right now. You get the deck and book for 70$. That's still a lot of money, but not outrageously much. The deck alone is 50$. That's in the normal range for independently published high quality decks.

That's at least what I understand from clicking on the Indiegogo link.

And for those who want to compare or find the identical title confusing:

Lorelei Douglas' Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

and the review on AT

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Serpentwand
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by Serpentwand »

Looks like a nice collection of images there. It would be interesting to know if there were film fans who could actually read these better than standard Tarot cards, bringing their knowledge of Hollywood more into play, changing the meanings.

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Nemia
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by Nemia »

Better - I don't know. Differently - yes. It's certainly an interesting concept. Look at those Lovers - how many choices for each person on the card ;-)

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welkin
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by welkin »

yes, to be sure, the price for the deck and the book is $70.
I would also point out that the book is 200 pages, colour, and quite substantial - not a "little white book" by any means.

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CharlotteK
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by CharlotteK »

What a stunning deck!

And I do love a decent book. This deck might be a little challenging to read with without it. Plus I'd personally want to understand all the references to studios etc (which sounds fascinating).

I like that this has more to it that just a simple collaging of photos of Hollywood stars into a RWS clone. A sort of cross between Housewives Tarot and Hexen 2.0 just sprang to mind.

I wonder how do the suits work and match to the usual tarot suits? It's not very easy to immediately identify the suits on some of the scans.

I like this a lot. I don't think the pricing is at all unreasonable either for an independent artist deck and substantial book. Though shipping to UK might take it into the expensive bracket.

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welkin
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by welkin »

Thank you for your kind words.
The suits work in the same way as they do in a standard tarot deck, and retain their same core meanings. Each Ace is something of the suit's symbol - it's mascot, if you will. The Cups suit Ace is King King - primeval emotion in our modern world. The Swords suit is called Spades, for Same Spade, because its Ace is The Maltese Falcon - an idea, something people kill for, something which may not even exist...

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The pip cards almost always have the studio logo or full name on the card. On the Ace of Spades you can see the Warner Brothers logo, which is in the shape of a spade. Warner Brothers corresponds to Swords in part because it was the most violent studio, the home of James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, and the gangster film. Each pip suit is also colour-coded; part of the thin frame of each card - a detail which, once picked up on, makes determining the suit very easy. The suit of Batons for instance is red:

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The suit of Coin is yellow:

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So, in short, while which star worked for what studio and what style of film that studio specialized in is pertinent to the underlying integrity of the Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot, it's not something someone has to know in order to read with the cards. As with any good tarot deck, these additional meanings exist layers below the surface, there to broaden the meaning and hence, ultimately, one's understanding.
Similarly, I very carefully chose films which not only correlated to their respective studio suits, but also directly related to their corresponding card's meaning. Whats more, they also had to relate indirectly - that is, in a hidden or off-screen way. And at the same time, the films had to be fairly well known to the average person, and also be of a certain quality in themselves. Example:

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6 of Cups - Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. Note the blue border. City Lights is imbued with childish innocence; it is a film about giving. It was a silent film released in the era of talkies - from the world's most beloved comedian, albeit from a by-gone era. The film was made by United Artists - the little studio with heart, formed to counter the big industrial studios by performers - one of whom was Chaplin, the Little Tramp. Of course, by the end of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Chaplin had his work-Visa revoked by the HUAC commission for being "Un-American". City Lights is probably Chaplin's most perfect film.

Shipping, of course, can be a problem; and it depends in part on how the parcel is shipped. With my Shakespeare Tarot, I sent the book and deck to Europe for a cost of $33 US, or £25. I believe The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot deck and book will be somewhat cheaper, as the book is not the tome the Shakespeare Tarot Key was.

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Last edited by welkin on 15 Oct 2017, 13:20, edited 1 time in total.

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CharlotteK
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by CharlotteK »

That's fascinating. Thank you for the explanation Welkin.

I can see how this would be very readable once you had grasped colour/studio associations, which doesn't look at all difficult.

I love the Wizard of Oz card.

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Nemia
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Re: The Golden Age of Hollywood Tarot

Post by Nemia »

Welkin, you did it! I'm totally enabled. I'll have to save up money though. I love both the Beatles and the Hollywood deck - both are obsessions of mine, and any deck with Carole Lombard in it, or Stuart Sutcliffe, is a must-have for me.

I'm always amazed where the archetypes of the tarot can turn up. In 1950s kitchens, in 1920s Berlin nightclubs, in 1940s Hollywood or 1960s London... and there they jump up, with shield and helmet, battle cry on their lips, like Athene from the head of Zeus... fascinating.

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